I'd like to say that my name is Skundaal. That is my birth name, and my English name is Bernie Williams. I'm a residential school survivor. My number is 6690064101. I'm from the Haida nation. I'm also Nuchatlaht and Stellat'en.
I'd like to say hello to the House of Commons MPs who are here and to two of my colleagues here.
I was just looking through the paper here. The sergeant mentioned that there are 18. We've got 45. But I'm not going to dialogue; that's not why we're here.
I'm one of the co-founders of Walk4Justice. We are also front-line workers. I would like to acknowledge the elders who are here--the grassroots women who've been on the front lines. I'd like to take you on a short journey back to about 1986, along with Harriet Nahanee, Phillipa Ryan, Reta Blind, and Carol Martin. Many women have played a big part in the work that's been done in the downtown east side, but also nationally.
I'm one of the co-founders of Walk4Justice. We started the walk in 2006 from Prince Rupert to Prince George for the murdered and missing women's symposium. There were 33 recommendations implemented, and only two out of 33 were done. As a result, today we're fighting on those front lines in the alleys and on the streets.
Back in 1986 the data was started. To date we have a little over 4,000 women's names nationally. On the downtown east side they reported 69 women, and we believe that number has tripled. Since Pickton was arrested there have been more women.
One of the things we've noticed is that many organizations are coming to the downtown east side here. Many of these organizations have been building their empires down here off the backs of our people, especially our women. It's a good thing to be Indian down here. It's a good thing to be an addict, but it's also a good thing to be a residential school survivor. We've watched these empires build and build on their backs.
What we've been fighting for all these years is not only a public inquiry. We asked for a public inquiry almost 20 years ago. We wanted a national one. When we started to bring families forward to report their loved ones, we were in the families that were dismissed in that.
We've been working jointly with the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, the First Nations Summit, and the regional AFN. We had resolutions that were signed nationally in 2007 and 2008 as we walked to Ottawa. All of the resolutions that were signed nationally for a public inquiry are by treaties 1 to 11, the Congress of Aboriginal People, the Native Women's Association of Canada, and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. If it wasn't for the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and the movement of these grassroots women, we would not be at these tables.
Along with the AWAN and all the other women's groups, I asked, “Why did it have to take 69 women for us to come to these tables?” This is not something that's isolated. It's not new. There has been an onslaught down here. The police department has been having community forums, but I don't agree with that. Why have them after all these years? The blood is already on the ground.
Why did it take a young aboriginal woman by the name of Ashley to be thrown out of this window, when other men and women had been thrown out of these windows, for the police department to come forward?
Why are our women being incarcerated for the sex trade when these johns are walking?
Why are these organizations allowing...? You know, our women had to be raped inside these shelters and that.
Our aboriginal community--nothing has changed in 650 years plus.
You're asking, how do we make changes in the system? One thing we've been asking for, as grassroots women, is to have our own health, healing, and wellness centres nationally. We know how to take care of our own people. We know what the problems are. We want our elders in there. We want our spiritual people in there. We have that voice. We are a very strong nation.
Hedy, I've been watching you for so many years. I admire your words. One thing you've said--it's very profound and very simple--is “We want to work together.”
You know, I get taunted. I am a woman, I am a gay woman, and I am an Indian woman. I have three strikes against me right there. For years I told people I came from the Philippines because I was so ashamed. People respected immigrants much more than they did me.
My mother was murdered on the downtown east side. We all have our stories here. We all share them. How many more tables do we have to sit at, and how many more round tables?
I have two sisters who were murdered down here. I have a younger brother who was hung three summers ago. Nothing was ever done.
There have been so many. I have a relative on the Highway of Tears who went missing back in the late sixties or early seventies. Her name is Irene White.
But it took a white woman to blow the Highway of Tears open. She comes from a middle-class family. We met with her family en route when we walked through upper Edmonton, in Red Deer.
Why did it take all these other women? Why did it take 69 women?
And why is Wally Oppal running the commission and the public inquiry?
We have a lot of questions, because I certainly don't think they're fair. I know the work that needs to be done. I'm tired of these men exploiting our women. I agree with AWAN--they've done phenomenal work--that these women are targeted every day.
We've asked for our own buildings. The Downtown Eastside Women's Centre elders council has been asking for that for so many years. We can't even get a building for them.
We are the experts. We are the front-line workers right in there. We don't get paid for this. I want to make that very clear. People think we have hoards of money and that. The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs are the ones who get all the Walk4Justice money, all donations and that.
I want to ask one thing: I'd like to challenge all of you to take a walk with us through the downtown east side before you leave. This is in a prime area right now, because at midnight tonight.... It's welfare night. You will watch and you will see. This is a crucial time for us as women down there. We don't know how many of our women are going to die in the next four days. We don't know.
As a residential school survivor, I would not take that money, because that is blood money, to me. What they should have done with the residential school money was put it inside a trust to build health, healing, and wellness centres and safe places for our children.
We have one of the largest networks for human trafficking here.
There are many Willie Picktons out there. Why are they being let back out in these very streets?
I worked for one of the churches up here--I'll make this very brief, Hedy--that offered housing. I was employed in these churches. Five women had been raped inside a shelter that was supposed to be safe for the people to come into. It's funded by the city and by the provincial government, and when these women are coming to us....
I have a meeting with Pivot Legal tomorrow morning. Enough is enough. These are crimes against humanity. We are targeted every day on those front lines by drug dealers, who are immigrants, and the police allow them to sit and sell drugs and kill our people down here, right across from Carnegie Centre.
That's where it needs to start. Go after the VPD--check them out--and the RCMP. They need to be held accountable. Everybody talks about transparency and about accountability. Start from the bottom up. Our leadership needs to be questioned too. That's why a lot of us women are down here.